Heloniopsis tubiflora 'Temple Blue' BSWJ 956

Heloniopsis Melanthiaceae

Heloniopsis tubiflora ‘Temple Blue’ BSWJ 956 is one of those plants that makes you wonder why anyone bothers with ordinary spring bulbs. This choice Korean woodland perennial forms handsome, evergreen rosettes of broad, strap-shaped leaves, from which sturdy flower stems emerge in early spring, eventually carrying rounded heads of remarkably vivid blue to blue-purple, nodding flowers. It is an unusually colourful member of a genus better known for white or pinkish flowers.

The collection is particularly well documented. BSWJ 956 was collected by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones in 1993 in the Odaesan Mountains of north-eastern South Korea, where it was found growing close to a temple. Crûg Farm describes the wild plants as forming tight, circular, prostrate rosettes, with thin, lance-shaped leaves and slowly expanding green scapes bearing terminal umbels of nodding blue-purple flowers. 

In cultivation it makes a superb plant for a cool, shady woodland setting, particularly where the soil remains reliably moist through summer. The ‘Temple Blue’ selection name refers to its exceptional blue flower colour rather than a formal botanical taxon. It has subsequently been distributed internationally from the original Crûg Farm collection, including through the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden and Far Reaches Farm. 

Height: 20–30 cm
Spread: 20–30 cm
Flowering: March–April
Hardiness: H5, approximately −15 to −10°C
Position: Partial to full shade
Soil: Moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil
Origin: Odaesan Mountains, South Korea — BSWJ 956, collected 1993